Matre's Dance For Percussion Ensemble (Preview)

concerto, Zahara, which he first performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra,
conducted by David Atherton, at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand on
22 September 2006. In 2008, Chamber Music New Zealand commissioned Psathas to write
a string quartet, A Cool Wind, for the world renown Takács Quartet, who presented the first
performance in the Auckland Town Hall, Auckland, New Zealand on 23 July 2008.
Psathas’ recent career highlights include the creation of key ceremonial music for the
2004 Athens Olympic Games and more recently Zeibekiko, an entire programme of music
celebrating the heritage of Greek music from antiquity and the present day. Zeibekiko was
commissioned by the Eduard van Beinum Foundation at the request of the Nederlands
Blazers Ensemble and toured Holland in 2004. It was a highlight of both the 2004 Bath
Festival (UK) and the 2006 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts.
Psathas’ inclination to work in a collaborative capacity with artists from a wide range of
musical genres and backgrounds has resulted in projects such as Elect the Dead Symphony
with Serj Tankian, and Pounamu with New Zealand roots musician Warren Maxwell. In 2011,
Psathas produced his first film score for the feature-film, Good for Nothing, and further film
music followed with White Lies in 2013. Psathas’ involvement with Booktrack—a company
focused on developing synchronised soundtracks for eBooks—saw the opportunity to write
music for the Salman Rushdie novel, In the South.
Psathas has received a number of awards and honours, including twice winning the SOUNZ
Contemporary APRA Silver Scroll Award (2002 and 2004) for individual works and taking
three Classical CD of the Year awards (2000, 2004 and 2007) in the NZ Music Awards. In 2003
he was made a New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate and in 2005 was appointed an Officer
of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM).
In 2014 Victoria University of Wellington awarded Psathas a Higher Doctorate in the degree of
Doctor of Music (DMus) for the immense body of work he has contributed to his field.
Latest information about the composer may be found at www.johnpsathas.com.
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